A championship-caliber team without a crowd

 HIGH POINT, N.C. — On a crisp Saturday night, High Point University pulses with energy. Music blasts from dorm windows, laughter echoes through Greek Circle and students buzz with excitement, swapping weekend plans. Everywhere you look, campus is alive.

But step inside the Qubein Center, and it’s a different story.

The High Point women’s basketball team is in action, battling for a key Big South win. Their defense is relentless, forcing turnovers and suffocating the opposition. Their offense is fluid and efficient, running plays with machine-like precision. Aaliyah Collins, fresh off an ankle injury, is moving like she never missed a game, slicing through defenders and dictating the pace.

This team is good—arguably as good as the men’s team. And yet, they play in front of an audience that barely fills the lower level of the arena. The student section? Empty except for two loyal attendees. The upper-level seating? Vacant aside from a class requirement and the camera crew. The biggest cheers of the night don’t come for a highlight-reel play, but for the "Simba Cam" during a timeout.

It’s not a matter of skill. It’s not a matter of competition. It’s something else entirely.

The issue of fan engagement in women’s college basketball is not unique to High Point. While women’s basketball is growing at the national level—thanks to superstars like Caitlin Clark and powerhouse programs like South Carolina and LSU—smaller programs continue to struggle to draw meaningful student attendance.

High Point isn’t an outlier; it’s a case study in a much larger issue.

In discussions with students, many admitted that the team’s success isn’t the problem. They recognize that the women’s team is just as competitive as the men’s. Yet, despite this, they don’t feel the same pull to attend. Some pointed to the lack of tradition, saying they had never grown up watching women’s basketball the way they had men’s. Others cited the atmosphere, explaining that men’s games feel like an event, while women’s games feel optional.

This mindset is reinforced in subtle ways. Game days for men’s basketball feel like a spectacle, with more aggressive marketing, bigger student promotions and a pre-game buzz that makes attending a game feel like a must-do activity. The women’s team, despite their success, doesn’t receive that same treatment. Their games exist, but they aren’t framed as major events. They’re played, but they aren’t celebrated.

The result? A cycle that’s tough to break. Students don’t attend because the environment isn’t exciting, and the environment isn’t exciting because students don’t attend.

It’s easy to suggest quick fixes—more promotions, better social media engagement, halftime entertainment. But the problem runs deeper.

The reality is that fan culture isn’t built overnight. It’s ingrained through years of consistent messaging, campus traditions and institutional buy-in. High Point has spent years branding men’s basketball as a marquee event. The women’s team, despite proving itself on the court, hasn’t received the same push.

If the university truly wants to fix the issue, it has to start at the source. Women’s basketball needs to be marketed with the same intensity as men’s basketball, not as an afterthought but as a centerpiece of the athletic experience. HPU students need to see women’s basketball promoted on the same level—from posters around campus to in-game experiences that mirror the energy of men’s games.

The school also needs to tell better stories. When Collins returned from injury, it should have been a headline across campus. The days following? Crickets.. When the team is at the top of the Big South standings, it should be a major talking point in student conversations. Winning teams deserve winning attention, and it’s up to the university—and the student body—to change the narrative.

Changing attendance trends for women’s sports isn’t a simple task. It’s a long-term investment that requires a cultural shift.

But the truth is, women’s basketball is growing. Schools that have committed to investing even more in their women’s programs—through marketing, fan engagement and atmosphere—are reaping the rewards. High Point has the opportunity to do the same.

The question is whether they will.

Winning teams deserve winning crowds. Period.

High Point women’s basketball is proving themselves on the court. It’s time for the school—and its students—to prove they deserve them.

Because if this campus doesn’t wake up soon, it’s not just the team that will lose. It’s everyone.

And by then? It might be too late.